2020-03-26 The Hollywood Reporter

THE HOLLYWOOD REPORTER 70 MARCH 26, 2020

Top Entertainment Law Schools

WHERE DID THE LAWYERS ON THIS LIST LEARN THEIR SKILLS? MOST WENT TO HARVARD (19 IN ALL),

BUT UCLA ISN’T FAR BEHIND (15), AND EVEN MICHIGAN BOASTS SOME BIG HOLLYWOOD ALUMS (4) by Ashley Cullins

Harvard Law School (19 ALUMNI)

Despite being 3,000 miles from

Hollywood, Harvard’s impact on the

industry is undeniable. The Cambridge

school’s Entertainment Law Clinic and

Recording Artists Project offer hands-on

experience with trademarks, copyrights

and rights acquisition for companies and

talent across film and music. Classes on

intellectual property, technology and

entertainment range from artificial intel-

ligence to fashion to sports law.

UCLA School of Law (15 ALUMNI)

The Westwood campus, which

celebrated its centennial in 2019, is

home to the Ziffren Institute for Media,

Entertainment, Technology and Sports

Law. UCLA also launched a tech, law and

policy institute with its engineering

school and a Master of Legal Studies

program to teach non-attorneys skills like

negotiation and contract drafting.

USC Gould School of Law (10 ALUMNI)

Its newest law class is more than half

female and includes a record number of

economically disadvantaged students

(who also have the highest median GPA in

school history). USC fosters relationships

with Hollywood through its externship

program and offers concentrations in

media and entertainment, technology and

business law.

UC Berkeley School of Law

(7 ALUMNI)

Supreme Court Justices Ruth Bader

Ginsburg and Elena Kagan recently visited

the Berkeley campus, where its top-ranked

IP program has six new technology law

courses to keep ahead of the curve.

Columbia Law School (5 ALUMNI)

Its focus on experiential learning includes

a Lawyering in the Digital Age clinic

and an externship in coordination with

Volunteer Lawyers for the Arts.

George Washington University

Law School (5 ALUMNI)

Known for its legendary patent law pro-

gram, D.C.’s oldest law school boasts more

than 24,000 living alumni.

Georgetown Law (5 ALUMNI)

The D.C.-based school is launching two

tech programs: an LLM in Technology Law

and Policy for attorneys and a Master of

Law and Technology for non-lawyers.

Cardozo School of Law (4 ALUMNI)

The midtown Manhattan-based school

features the FAME Center for fashion, art,

media and entertainment, a tech startup

clinic and an indie film clinic.

Loyola Law School (4 ALUMNI)

Loyola in 2019 launched a Transactional

Lawyering Institute and hosts an annual

TechTainment symposium.

NYU School of Law (4 ALUMNI)

NYU’s student-run Intellectual Property

and Entertainment Law society fosters

networking and skills across fashion,

tech, entertainment and patent law.

University of Michigan Law School

(4 ALUMNI)

The Ann Arbor school highlights skills

across IP, labor and employment, and liti-

gation through its Entertainment, Media

and Arts Law Students Association.

A POWER LAWYER’S ADVICE TO STUDENTS

“Don’t be afraid to separate

the forest from the trees. When

I was a young lawyer, I spent

way too long negotiating a force

majeure clause. I was worried

— as was the studio lawyer —

about what the client’s rights

would be in the case of nuclear

war. My mentor politely pointed

out that in that case, there

probably wouldn’t be anyone

left to read the contract — and

certainly no judge to enforce

the rights I wanted clearly

spelled out. In the end, the studio

lawyer and I and flipped a coin

to see whose language we would

include — which no one ever

read — and had a glass of wine.”

— HAROLD BROWN, UC BERKELEY

SCHOOL OF LAW (’76)

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